Indian Chronology (Solar, Lunar and Planetary): A Practical Guide to the Interpretation and Verification of Tithis, Nakshatras, Horoscopes and other Indian Time-records, B.C. 1 to A.D. 2000 c32: Chapter XXVI. Use of Table IV (Vara or Week-Day), Tables III, II and I
Indian Chronology (Solar, Lunar and Planetary): A Practical Guide to the Interpretation and Verification of Tithis, Nakshatras, Horoscopes and other Indian Time-records, B.C. 1 to A.D. 2000 c32
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Contents
- c32.s1 Tables III, II, and I — 3 parts
Chapter XXVI. Use of Table IV (Vara or Week-Day), Tables III, II and I
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231. The vâra or week-day is almost invariably quoted in Indian dates. The fact that week-days are the same in European and Indian reckoning (e.g., a Monday in a date a thousand years ago corresponded, as it does to-day, to an Indian Soma-vâra, Tamil Tingal) is a striking proof of the common origin of the Indo-European mode of reckoning the week. This identity becomes all the more striking when we consider that everything else in the two reckonings (year, month, day of month, hour of day, etc.) is different. The week-day is, therefore, an important link between the two systems and it is well that we have an easy and at the same time a thoroughly accurate and reliable mode of identifying the week-day of any date, however remote, in the past. The ordinary rule laid down in Indian works on astronomical computation is to count the days from the beginning of Kaliyuga (18 Feb., 3102 B.C.) and cast off sevens—a truly formidable operation which few of our readers will venture upon.
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N.B.—The number of days from the beginning of Kaliyuga up to any moment under consideration is called the Ahargana. This is constantly alluded to in Hindu works on astronomical computation and we have therefore given an Ahargana Table (Table XXII, last page of this work), but the reader will have no occasion to use it unless to verify allusions.
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232. Table IV of the present work supplies an easy method of verifying the day of the week of the European Calendar. An equally simple, if not a simpler, method might be devised for discovering the week-day of any date of an Indian solar year, but inasmuch as all operations in the present work are directed towards ascertaining the A.D. or B.C. date corresponding to an Indian date, it will be enough if we are able to verify week-days, through the B.C. or A.D. equivalents of Indian dates.
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233. The reader will observe in Table IV three lines in heavy type, consisting of the figures
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1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 0.
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These are called co-efficients. Each century, year of a century and month of a year has its co-efficient which is shown in Table IV, and all we have to do is to add up the co-efficients for the component elements of a date, the day of the month being itself an additional co-efficient. Thus if we want to know the week day of 15 July 1910 we proceed as follows :
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| (Table IV) | co-efficient of 1900 | 2 |
| | " " of 1910 | 5 |
| | " " of July | 5 |
| | Day of month | 15 |
| | | — |
| | Total | 27 |
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Dividing 27 by 7, we have as remainder 6, which is equivalent to Friday, the 6th day of the week.
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The 15th July 1910 was, therefore, a Friday.
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It will simplify the operation if we cast off sevens in the very act of summing up the figures. Thus 2 + 5 being 7, we might neglect the first two figures, and 15 being 2 × 7 + 1, we need only add 5 + 1 which is 6 or Friday.
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234. This method is applicable to any date, A.D. or B.C., Old Style or New Style, but the student should first understand the negative character of B.C. dates and also the difference between Old Style and New Style.
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235. B.C. dates. All B.C. dates are negative. B.C. 44 is really the year "minus 44" in relation to A.D. 1. In determining week-days of B.C. dates, we should first of all convert the dates into positive figures : that is, for the century, we should take the next previous century increased by 1, and for the odd year we should take 101 minus the odd year we are dealing with.
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Thus, supposing we want the week-day of 18 February 3102 B.C., the first day of Kaliyuga we proceed as follows :—
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| (Table IV). | Co-efficient of 3201 B.C. (the century preceding 3102)........... | 3 |
| | " 101 minus 2 (the odd year before us) = 99.......... | 4 |
| | " February (in an ordinary year) . . . . . | 2 |
| | Day of month | 18 |
| | | — |
| | Total | 27 |
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Now, 27 divided by 7 leaves 6, i.e., Friday which, according to all accounts, was the first week-day of Kaliyuga.
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236. Old Style.—At present every fourth year A.D. is a leap year, but century years 1700, 1800, 1900, 2000 A.D. are leap years only if the first two figures are divsible by 4.
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This rule about century years was adopted, in most European countries (except Russia which still follows the Old Style) under the authority of a decree of Pope Gregory XIII, dated 1582, and in English speaking countries, under the authority of an Act of the British Parliament, dated 1752. It was ordered by the same Act of Parliament (in order to correct the principal error of the Old Style,) that the day following 2 September 1752 (Wednesday) should be called the "14 September 1752" (Thursday) not the "3 September" (Thursday). This is the famous "dropping of 11 days" by Act of Parliament. Wednesday, 2 September, A.D. 1752 was therefore the last day of the Old Style in English-speaking countries and Thursday, 14 September, A.D. 1752 is the first day of the English New Style.
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For Old Style dates, *i.e.*, dates down to, and inclusive of, 2 Sep. A.D. 1752, the reader should use the co-efficients of centuries appearing under "Old Style" in Table IV.
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237. The reader will note that 1600 and 1700 appear under both Old Style and New Style. The reason is that in most European countries, except the United Kingdom and Russia, the New Style came into use in 1582, whereas 1600 and 1700 were Old Style in England.
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238. Coming down to the co-efficients of odd years, we note that odd years of centuries have the same co-efficient, whether the style be Old or New, A.D. or B.C : only a B.C. odd year should first be deducted from 101 so as to render it positive. (*vide* Sec. 235.)
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239. Lastly, under co-efficients of months, we notice that the co-efficient of January in a leap year is 5, while in an ordinary year it is 6; and likewise February has 2 for its ordinary co-efficient, and 1 for its co-efficient in leap-years. The co-efficients of the other months do not change for leap-year.
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240. In ordinary years, the week-day of the 1st of January is the co-efficient of the year. Thus the co-efficient of the year A.D. 1910 is 7 or 0, and the week-day of 1st January A.D. 1910 is also 7 or 0, *i.e.*, Sunday. The reason is that in ordinary years, the week-day of 1st January is the co-efficient of the year *plus* 6 + 1; and the addition of 7, *i.e.*, of a whole week, does not of course change the week-day.
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In leap-years the week-day of 1st January is the co-efficient of the year *plus* 5 + 1; *i.e.*, in leap-years the week-day of 1 January is 1 less than the co-efficient of the year.
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241. The student who has read the author's "Secret of Memory" will be able to dispense altogether with the use of Table IV for verifying week-days. For particulars of this interesting method, see "Secret of Memory*" Chapter XIV, p. 108.
Tables III, II, and I
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242. The uses of these Tables will be self-evident. Tables II and III will be constantly handled by the reader, and their principal contents have, therefore, been included in a condensed form in the Eye-Table at the end of the book.
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243. The "Limits of Adhika and Kshaya months" which form the middle portion of Table II present the whole of this intricate subject in a veritable nutshell. For explanation, See Sections 18 to 30. When mean intercalations are required, that is, when Adhika months have to be determined without reference to anomalies, we should apply the "Limits of Adhika months" just as they are.
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